


Strangers in the Night

by frogonalog



Series: To Love a Yautja (Raven x Kjuhte) [1]
Category: Alien vs Predator (2004), Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Predator Original Series (1987-1990), Predators (2010)
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Sex, Blood and Injury, Exophilia, F/M, Hunters & Hunting, Interspecies Romance, Meet-Cute, POV Multiple, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:42:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29006256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogonalog/pseuds/frogonalog
Summary: Raven is on her way home from a Halloween party gone awry when she stumbled across an injured hunter from beyond the stars. When she decided to help him she never expected to get attached, but life is strange like that sometimes.The story of how Raven and Kjuhte met and fell in love <3
Relationships: Predator/Human, Yautja (Predator)/Original Female Character(s), Yautja/Human
Series: To Love a Yautja (Raven x Kjuhte) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127909
Comments: 42
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, I'm coming back at ya with another yautja fic. What can I say, I can't get enough of these big beefy boys. 
> 
> This time I'll focus on the story of how Raven and Kjuhte (the couple from my Halloween themed story) met and fell in love. Obviously we all know things turn out, but I hope you enjoy the ride anyway. 
> 
> Please let me know if you spot any typos/errors/etc!

“Hey you! Stop!” the police officer shouted at the scattering group of twenty-somethings, none of whom obeyed the command. 

Raven picked up the pace as she hoofed it across the grass towards the treeline. She didn’t stop to catch her breath until she was a good few meters into the forest. With her chest heaving slightly, she leaned against a nearby tree and scanned the area. 

_Shit? Was that a flashlight?_ Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes picked up a small beam of light in the direction of where she had come from. She took another big breath before she started moving again, cursing the fact that she was wearing heavy boots that were absolutely not made for running. 

In fact, everything she was wearing was not particularly suited for running through a forest at night. She had just come from a pre-Halloween party that a few of her coworkers had invited her to. She had come dressed as Sam Manson from Danny Phantom, which had been a hit at the party, but as twigs whipped her exposed midriff, Raven was starting to regret the choice. 

The party had been going normally until the drinks started flowing and someone suggested they go TP houses to honor the spirit of Mischief Night. That had been a blast right up until the cops showed up to ruin the fun. 

As she ducked under a low hanging branch, her hair fell in front of her face and stuck to the beads of sweat on her forehead. Annoyed, she blew it away and vowed to cut her hair back to a more manageable length tomorrow morning. She usually wore her hair in a short pixie cut, but had decided to let it grow out for her costume. Another bright idea that was coming to bite her in the ass now. 

She knew these woods well, having grown up in the town surrounding it. It had always been a frequent haunt of hers, whether she was simply exploring or if she was sneaking around with her high school friends. It was dark out now, though the light of the full moon shined through the treetops and lit her way. She picked her way through the brush and made her way to one of the wide dirt paths that could be found throughout the forest. Taking stock of her surroundings, she saw a large outcropping of rock that she lovingly referred to as the ‘butt rock’ due to the fact it looked like, well, a butt. There was a cave of sorts that was around the back of the butt rock. It was far enough away from the path that it was completely hidden and she and her friends had often used it as a place to smoke weed without getting caught. Now, it seemed like a good place to lay low for a little while in case the cop was still on her tail. She didn’t think she had any more running in her for tonight. 

While there were no large predators in these woods, she and her friends did once have a run in with an aggressive, coked up homeless man who had chased them away while spewing a bunch of nonsense about the end of the world. She wasn’t eager for a repeat of _that_ tonight, so she paused at the entrance to do a quick scan to see if there was anyone - or anything - inside. 

Once she was convinced the cave was empty, she ducked inside and perched herself on a rock, not venturing in too deep so that the light of the moon still reached her. She started out squatting above the rock, not wanting to press her bare thighs to the rock, but her legs soon got tired and she reluctantly sat down with a sigh. 

There was a wet sound as the back of one of her thighs landed in a puddle of something slick and she immediately jumped up, already frantically brushing whatever it was off of her. 

“Ew, ew, ew…” Whatever she just sat in was thick and slippery and very, _very_ gross. She brought her fingers up to her face to examine the substance and found them coated in a bright green fluid, almost glowing with how neon it was. She took a tentative sniff of the substance and felt a slight metallic taste in the back of her throat. She was half tempted to give it a little taste as well, for science of course, but quickly abandoned that line of thought. What if it was the slime from a radioactive snail or something equally as gross?

She turned back to where she had sat and found a small puddle of the same green fluid there, almost as if she had sat on a tiny version of Slimer from Ghostbusters. She fumbled in her pocket for a moment, fishing out her phone and turning the light on to get a better look. 

The puddle was bigger than it appeared, though ‘puddle’ wasn’t quite the right word. Whatever this was, most of it had started to dry, the outer layer of it hardening and turning a darker shade of green, which explained why she hadn’t seen it before she sat down. 

_Had something been dripping from the ceiling?_ She pointed her phone’s light up but found nothing there but smooth, grey rock. She looked back down at the green stuff, this time noticing there was more along one of the sides of the rock. There were five streaks of green emanating out from the main puddle, four of them spaced close together and one set apart from the rest. Almost like…

_A handprint._

She felt her blood run cold as soon as the thought came to mind. That was definitely a handprint. Four fingers and a thumb, curling around the edge of the rock as if whoever left it had used it as a handhold. 

No it couldn’t be a handprint, it was way too big. The only person who could have left a handprint that large was Andre the Giant and last she checked he was dead. Maybe it was his ghost, come back to life on All Hallows Eve? No that was stupid. 

Well, she must have been pretty damn stupid because she was actually debating looking deeper into the cave to see if whatever had left it was still inside, instead of high tailing it out of there like any sane person would do. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Raven swung her phone’s light towards the back of the cave, her hands shaking slightly. 

Her light illuminated a black object hunched in the back of the cave. 

_Fuck! A bear!_

She was pretty sure her heart stopped beating for a moment before she jumped back. Or well she tried to jump backwards, but it ended up being more of an awkward fall due to the uneven ground. She almost dropped her phone in her panic, fumbling to catch it before it clattered to the floor. 

She sat there unmoving for a moment, her fight or flight response obviously deciding that freeze was a great third option. The thing hunched in the corner didn’t move and she was starting to reconsider it was alive at all. It was probably just someone’s coat that they left behind, and here she was giving herself a heart attack over it. 

Oh god, it definitely just breathed. 

Raven wanted to chalk the slight rise and fall of the object to a trick of the light, caused by her shaking hands, but it happened again. There was no doubt about it, whatever was in the cave with her was alive and breathing.

Okay, so now she had to focus on getting out of this damn cave without getting mauled. She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart and tried to focus. She took another look at the thing in the back of the cave, and now that her head was clearer she started noticing more. 

Whatever it was, it was covered in that same green fluid. There were bright green slashes along the side of it, the edges starting to dry and darken, though they still glowed brightly in the middle. 

Either this thing had just come back from Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards or it was injured and its blood was green. Or radioactive, maybe? Was it some sort of weird escaped lab experiment? There was a military base a few towns over and rumors had always swirled that they got up to some weird stuff there. Like the town’s own Area 51. Granted, most of those stories were told to her by former classmates who had started posting flat earth shit on Facebook, so she was reluctant to believe them.

Every possibility that crossed her mind was more out there than the last. She always had an active imagination, and it was quickly making her thoughts spiral into crazy town. No matter what explanation she came up with, she would never be sure unless she got closer. The last sane part of her mind told her that she could just run away and never think of this again, but she was far too invested to just leave now. 

Since there was still a chance this was just some wild animal, she decided to play it safe and try to wake it up before going up to it. She scrabbled around in the dirt on the floor of the cave before her fingers closed around a small rock a little bit bigger than a quarter in size. She turned it around in her palm once, asking herself if this really was a good idea before she just simply decided to hell with it and chucked the rock at the black lump in the back of the cave. 

As soon as the rock left her hands she readied herself to make a run for it, but it turned out she didn’t need to. The rock plinked off something that sounded like it was metal before clattering to the ground, but nothing happened. The shape didn’t move or react in any way. Okay. 

Felling it was sufficiently safe to approach it, Raven started picking her way over the uneven ground. She turned her flashlight towards her feet so she could see where she was going and spotted a few more droplets of the dried green stuff spattered about. If this was blood, this thing had lost _a lot_ of it. 

When she finally stood next to the creature, she pointed her light down at it and let out a gasp as her mind took in the details. She could tell it was humanoid in appearance, able to make out two arms, two legs, and a head despite it’s awkward hunched position. It seemed like whatever - no _whoever_ \- this was had initially sat down with their back against the wall but had slumped down once they passed out. Raven suspected it was from blood loss, having decided that the green stuff was in fact blood when she saw that what she thought were slashes were in fact trails of blood. Up close, she could see that the blood was oozing out of holes that riddled the creature’s back. 

_Bullet holes_ , she realized, a pit forming in her stomach. Maybe her Area 51 idea wasn’t so crazy after all. 

With a shaking hand, she reached out to grip the creature’s shoulder, finding its skin warm and rough to the touch. It reminded her of the pet snake she had growing up, though it felt more pebbley than scaly. Hide was honestly a better word for it than skin, since it seemed thick and leathery, pulled tight over the creature’s strong back muscles. 

She gently tugged on its shoulder to flip the creature onto its back, their heavy arm landing in her lap with a thump. She winced as soon she saw their other side, their whole left flank a mess of torn muscle that bleed heavily. It appeared that the creature had been holding something in their other hand, as there was a clank as whatever it was slipped from their grip and landed on the ground. 

Raven leaned over to pick it up, turning the object around in her hands. It was a case of some sort, one clasp already flipped open. She flicked the other one up and opened the lid, finding it filled with various syringes as well as what looked like forceps. 

She felt a stab of sadness as she realized they had been trying to heal themselves. And they had passed out before they could do anything. She ran a hand along their chest, feeling a strange four-part heartbeat throb weakly against her palm. They were still alive, still fighting. And Raven wanted to help them. 

She turned to the medical kit for a moment, thinking if she could use it. But she decided against it with a shake of her head. For all she knew, half of this stuff was poison or something. If only they had been holding one of the syringes in their hand, then she would just be able to inject it, problem solved. But things would not be that simple. 

The best thing to do would be to bring this creature back to her apartment. There she would have some medical supplies she actually knew how to use. If she could just patch them up enough for them to regain consciousness, maybe they could show her how to use their kit. 

That was easier said than done, however. It would be a challenge to get them through the woods, but a plan was already forming in her mind. 

Yeah. She could do this, she told herself as she placed the creature’s arm back on the floor and stood up, already making her way out of the cave. 

At the mouth, she stopped and turned back towards the cave for a second to whisper, “Hang on for a little longer, big guy. I’m gonna help you.” 

She took a deep breath and started her journey back to her apartment, breaking out into a jog as soon as she made it back on the path. 

So much for no more running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is curious, I did in fact name this fic after a Frank Sinatra song. What can I say other than I am a sap for romance that listens to a lot of oldies.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2 for you guys! Just a a warning, this chapter includes references to underage drinking as well as drugs, and also includes some kinda graphic descriptions of injuries, in case those aren't anyone's cup of tea. 
> 
> Also as always, please let me know if you spot any typos/errors/etc.

Raven tossed a rock at the second story window, listening as it bounced off the glass and clattered to the ground. She held her breath as she waited for a response, but saw no movement behind the glass. 

_ That little shit better be home _ , Raven thought with a huff as she picked up another pebble and threw it again, more forcefully this time. This one went wide, hitting the siding with a thunk. Raven thanked her lucky stars that she had a bad aim since that one might have broken something. 

She was searching the dirt for another rock when she heard the window slide open before a voice called down to her. “Ugh, what do you want? Shouldn’t you be out sucking blood or something?” 

Raven made a face at the gangly teenager leaning out of the window. His name was Tyler and he was one of her neighbors in the building. She usually ran into him on her walk back from work when he and his friends would be practicing their skateboarding. She’d developed a relationship of sorts with the little twerp, usually in the form of playful jabs traded back and forth. 

“I already finished that earlier. Now shut up, I need to borrow your car.”

“What’s in it for me?” Tyler asked, folding his arms over his chest with a smug look on his face. He might be an obnoxious fifteen year old, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew he had all the cards here and would milk this opportunity for all it was worth. Raven had taught him well. 

“My undying love and devotion.” She quipped back at him. 

“Ew, why would I want that? No, I want you to buy me some booze for me and my friends to have tomorrow.” 

“Fine.” raven huffed out, rolling her eyes dramatically so that he could see. It wasn’t the first time she had done this for him, though most of the time she bought them the crap that was like 2% alcohol at most. 

“And we want weed.” He added. 

“Ugh, fine! Just give me the keys already, I’m in a hurry.” 

Tyler disappeared from the window, only to come back a moment later with the keys to his car jangling in one hand. 

“They’re coming over at 6 tomorrow. You better bring it by then.” 

“Okay, sure. And you better not tell anyone about this. Or I’ll put a hex on you!”

“Oh no, I'm shaking in my boots.” Tyler mocked her.

Raven took the rock she had picked up - more of a pebble really - and threw it at him. He ducked at the last minute, the pebble lading somewhere in his room, before he threw the keys down with a laugh. Raven caught them and gave him a wave before she turned to go find his truck. 

The beaten up old pickup truck was parked in its usual spot, its black paint job making it near invisible in the darkness. She almost pissed herself when she heard some scrabbling coming from somewhere near it, but relaxed when she saw a raccoon scamper out from under it and dash towards the dumpster. 

She peaked in the back to see if there was enough room to fit a gigantic alien creature and found it mostly empty save for a few loose tools, a blue plastic tarp, and Tyler’s old skateboard. Tyler might not have been happy that his dad had made him start working at his construction company, but Raven had never been more thankful. This junk in the back of his truck would definitely come in handy. 

She hopped into the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition, the engine sputtering to life after a moment. She checked the dashboard for a moment before muttering, “God, Tyler, fill up your damn car,” under her breath when she saw that the gas was nearly empty. There would be enough to get her to the forest and back, but it would be cutting it close. 

With her heart racing, she peeled out of the parking lot and started making her way through the dimly lit streets back to the entrance to the forest. She didn’t pass a single soul on the way there, which made sense since it was nearing 2am by the time she pulled up to the beginning of the trail. 

There was a metal gate blocking the entrance of the path to keep vehicles out at night. Nobody ever locked the gate though, so it was easy enough for Raven to hop out and swing it open before she got back in and drove into the forest.

Despite the rush she was in, she made sure to go (somewhat) slow just in case an animal jumped in front of the car and to make as little noise as possible. She ended up turning off the truck’s headlights too, just in case there were any cops poking about (or worse, soldiers here to secure the alien). The light of the full moon was bright enough that she was able to make her way back to the butt rock with ease.

She positioned the car so that the back was sort of facing the rock, though the path wasn’t wide enough to turn the car completely. She killed the engine and jumped out, her boots lading with a crunch on the ground, before she sprung into action. 

She pulled the back of the truck open and extended the ramp that was there so Tyler could load up some of the bigger equipment. Raven had watched him do it once, back in the summer when he had first started working. She had heckled him from afar as he struggled to load the machinery into the back, covered in sweat from the beating sun. She supposed that the universe was making her pay for that now that she would somehow have to figure out a way to get a giant alien up there. 

She thought about using the skateboard but decided against it since it wouldn’t do well on such uneven ground and instead grabbed the big blue tarp before dashing back to the cave. She was half expecting to find nothing there, for her to have hallucinated it, but she found the creature laying exactly how she had left them. They didn’t look any better for wear, but they also didn’t look worse. And they were still breathing, which was good. 

Raven scrambled to lay the tarp out next to its prone body, banging her knee against more than one rock in the process, but she was too focused on her mission to care. She would deal with her bruised knees later. 

When that was done, she stepped over their body to get on their other side so that she could roll them onto the tarp. She picked up the medical kit and threw it on the tarp next to the alien. She was ready to go before she thought to use her flashlight to do a quick once over of the ground for anything else. She was lucky she did because she found a piece of dark grey armor - maybe for a shoulder or something - as well as a literal sword that seemed to have slipped from their belt. She tossed both on the tarp and without further ado, she started the long process of dragging this hulking alien out of the cave. 

And boy oh boy was it a  _ process _ . This creature was he-a-vy and Raven had to stop every ten or so feet to catch her breath and rest her arms. Her job was made slightly easier once she reached the comparatively flat surface of the trail. By the time she reached the back of the truck she was panting, her hair stuck to her forehead from how much she was sweating. She swore to herself that the first thing she would do tomorrow was cut all this shit off. 

Now came the even harder part, getting them up into the bed of the truck. As she racked her brain for the best way to go about doing that, she spent the time clearing a space for the alien and tossing the miscellaneous things on the tarp in the back. She didn’t want to be worrying about cutting herself on a sword while she did this. 

Eventually, she decided to wedge the skateboard under the alien’s lower back to make things easier as she grasped under their arms and pulled them up. It was less than graceful, the skateboard slipped out from under them at a certain point and she almost dropped them. She adjusted her grip and kept pulling, wincing and muttering apologies under her breath when she saw that all her tugging had pulled what little bits of the wound on their side had scabbed over. 

As soon as the alien was safely in the back, Raven collapsed on the ground, the alien’s head and shoulders falling back into her lap, her legs pinned under their bulk. She took this moment to catch her breath, her chest rising and falling frantically as she laid back and looked up at the full moon directly overhead, hanging high in the sky and tinted slightly orange. The Hunter’s Moon, she recalled offhandedly. Her mother had taught her all the names for the different full moons when she was little and she was suddenly brought back to the memory of the two of them going through the calendar they kept on the fridge in their old home, drawing in little pictures that related to the name of each full moon. 

Raven pushed up on her elbows, her shoulders and abdomen aching from exertion, and looked down at the alien in her lap. It seemed to be wearing some kind of mask, the light from the moon highlighting the harsh planes and giving it an intimidating appearance. Absentmindedly, she reached town and started to trace a symbol that seemed to be carved on the forehead, a half circle with three dots arranged in a triangle above it. As she wondered what it meant, if anything, her hand trailed down to the creature’s scalp, to what appeared to be hair of some kind, thick and styled into dreadlocks. When she touched one though, she found the texture not that of hair but more of a rubber tube, though it was warm and somewhat squishy to the touch. She curled it around one finger, inspecting the silver band that adorned it before letting run through her fingers and fall back into her lap. 

The somewhat pained, full body shudder that then racked the alien’s frame finally snapped her out of whatever trance she had been in. Seeing them in pain gave her the push she needed to rally herself and keep going. There would be time later to inspect this alien. She just needed to make sure it didn’t die before she got the chance. 

She pulled her legs out from under the creature’s head, gently so that it didn’t bang into the bed of the truck. She clambered her way to the ground and flipped the excess material of the tarp over the alien’s body just in case she ran into anyone on the way back. She pushed the ramp back up and closed the back of the truck, making sure everything was secure before making her way into the driver's seat once again. 

She started the engine, jumping at the loud rumble of the engine. The truck was wedged diagonally across the path and she needed to turn it around to go back the way she came. She ended up having to do what felt like a million K-turns, even backing up into a tree once, before she was facing the direction she needed to be.

As she made her way back to her apartment complex, she was thankful she had these few minutes to rest. She was not a particularly active person and she was pretty sure that all this running and pulling was more exercise than she had gotten the whole rest of the year. 

She pulled the truck up to the back of the building, next to the maintenance entrance. There was nobody around and all of the windows on this side were dark, including her’s on the fifth floor. She hated her five floor walk-up, but it had been the only thing she could afford. The apartment itself wasn’t bad, it was an end unit with a little more space than the others. It also had the benefit of being right across from the maintenance elevator, which was her current (and only) idea of getting her alien up into her apartment. There was no way she’d be able to drag him up five flights of stairs and have nobody see. 

The maintenance door was locked as always, since residents weren’t allowed to use the elevator, but the lock was a cheap one that was easy enough to pick. Raven had done it a few times when she had been too tired to lug her groceries up to her apartment. She pulled a bobby pin from her hair, which had long since stopped doing its job of keeping things out of her face, and got to work on picking the lock. It took less than a minute before she heard the click of the last tumbler and she smiled to herself proudly. She was getting pretty good at that. 

She ended up doing the same thing to get the alien down from the bed of the truck, only this time the skateboard stayed under them and gravity was working to her benefit. She wheeled their unconscious body through the door before turning back to the truck and driving it back to its usual parking spot. She grabbed the keys and told herself she’d return the keys when she dropped off the booze to Tyler tomorrow before jogging back to the door, locking it behind her and calling the elevator. It was on the ground floor and the doors opened immediately. The alien almost didn’t fit into the small space and she ended up having to sit it up against the wall so that the doors would close. The elevator moved at a glacial pace, rattling and groaning as it climbed to the top floor. Raven tapped her foot as she waited, more out of nervousness than impatience. She couldn’t be sure, but her gut told her that getting caught sneaking an  _ alien _ into the building using the maintenance elevator would be grounds to terminate her lease. 

She winced at the elevator’s loud ding as it reached the fifth floor, not sure if the sound echoed or if she was just imagining that. The doors opened and she peeked her head past them to see if there was anyone in the hallway. Her next door neighbor, Brad, worked the night shift most nights so she doubted he was around to come check the noise. Still, she waited a moment to listen for any shuffling of feet or doors swinging open, but heard nothing other than her own heartbeat. 

With the coast clear, she tugged the alien out of the elevator and across the hall to her door. Her keys rattled as she pulled them out, her eyes darting around as she unlocked the door. As soon as it swung open she was dragging the alien in quickly, hitting her head on the door handle in her haste. 

As soon as the door closed she scrambled over to lock it, letting out a deep breath as she finally let herself relax. She had done it! All she wanted to do now was collapse on the floor, but she still had to treat the alien’s wounds. She pulled them over to her couch, kicking her coffee table away to clear some space. She tried rolling them up onto the couch but only one of their shoulders made it on. She didn’t want to start pulling them any more, aggravating his wounds any more than she already had, so she gave up, instead positioning them to lie against the couch, propping them up on their side so she could access and treat the worst of their injuries. 

She hurried into the bathroom to retrieve her medical kit, spreading it all out around her as she settled next to them. She grabbed the rubbing alcohol first and used clean cotton pads to clean the wounds of dirt and other debris. She also wiped off all the blood so she could assess how bad the actual injuries were. 

She dealt with the the bullet wounds on their back first, which were not as bad as they appeared initially. She did have to dig a few bullets out with tweezers, which was a wholly unpleasant experience. She used some gauze pads to pack the bullet holes tightly to stop the bleeding. He secured the gauze with medical tape before turning to the worst injury, the gash on their side. 

She had stalled a bit on treating this one as it was pretty gruesome. Raven was not a squeamish person by any stretch, she could handle blood and guts. But she was pretty sure she had seen a bone - probably a rib - poking out from between the flesh there as she had cleaned it. She steeled her nerves and turned to the wound. It looked so painful, the skin there completely removed, exposing the pulsing green flesh underneath. She wished she was able to do something other than clean and wrap it, but she didn’t know what else to do. So she set about securing the gauze around it, making sure to touch as gingerly as possible. Before she could start taping it down, the blood had soaked completely through. She hastily pulled out another large gauze pad and replaced it, this time pressing down harder to stop the blood flow. 

She sat back with a sigh. There was nothing more she could really do now, other than keep pressure on the wound and hope that they woke up. Keeping one hand applying pressure on the injury, she pulled the coffee table closer to her and placed one of the pillows on the couch behind her back before settling back against it. It wasn’t comfortable by any means but her body was too exhausted to care right now. The adrenaline that had been pushing her forward was wearing off now and all of the bumps and bruises and cuts she had sustained tonight were catching up to her. 

She could feel her eyes drooping, but willed them open longer, wanting to keep pressure on the wound for as long as possible. To distract herself from falling asleep, she used this time to study the alien in more detail as she hadn’t been able to make out much between the darkness and her rush to get him back home. 

They were big yes, their body made of dense muscle, they were also but also _tall_. Raven would bet that if they stood up, they would be easily over seven feet tall. Their hide was a solid black color, with a slight sheen to it that almost gleamed in the light. It’s torso, arms, and legs were marked with scars, some new and still healing and others old and fading. There were large rubbery dreadlocks that sprouted from the top and sides of their head, adorned with silver rings, some plain and others with designs carved into the metal. As she was cleaning, she noticed that it seemed to be wrapped up in netting of some sort, almost like full body fishnets, though the material was torn so much it was really only on one arm and both legs. They wore a half breastplate on their chest, the metal a dark gunmetal grey that, in Raven’s opinion at least, complimented their black hide quite well. Absentmindedly, she wondered if this alien was considered a goth back at their home, giggling to herself at the thought of goth aliens. The alien also wore a kilt/loincloth thing made of some sort of soft black leather and on top was an armored piece that matched the color breastplate. Around their waist was a thick belt with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos attached. She was half tempted to check them out, but decided against that. She didn’t want to accidentally explode her apartment or something equally ridiculous and tragic. 

But that thought led her mind to another: the alien was still wearing its mask. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to see what their face looked like. She justified her decision to take it off by telling herself she needed to see if there were any injuries that she missed underneath. She would just peak, and if it looked like it was struggling to breath, she would put it right back on. 

She groped along the edges of the mask, searching for an unlocking mechanism until her fingers brushed over a wire attached to the side. Upon further inspection the wire looked like it detached, and when she yanked on it it came away with a hiss. She carefully pulled the mask up and set it aside, eyes returning to their head to study their features. 

The first thing she noticed was the mandibles. It had four of them, capped with long white tusks that surrounded sharp, needle-like teeth. She watched in fascination as the mandibles twitched ever so slightly, another reassurance that they were in fact alive. There was no nose above the mandibles, just a pair of deep set eyes, black eyelids closed over them. The alien had a large sloping forehead, the edges of it ending in a spiny crest. On their forehead was the same symbol that decorated its mask, the green scar tissue standing out starkly against the black hide there. 

Raven started tracing the features of their face, feeling along the bumpy ridges of their forehead that gradually faded into the smooth, almost soft skin near its eyes and mandibles. This was definitely a face meant to intimidate, the face of an apex predator, but it also had a certain… beauty to it as well, in its own alien way. She found herself wanting to sketch it, to study how each element worked in tandem with each other. Her eyes dropped as she continued to stroke up and down one mandible lazily, eventually succumbing to the exhaustion and falling into a deep sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love how Raven's first solution to everything and anything is to just throw a rock at it. Relatable. 
> 
> Also love how she sees this big scary alien and is like 'oh no he's kinda hot and also has very good fashion sense.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's finally check in to see how our favorite boy is holding up! 
> 
> As always, please let me know if you spot any typos/errors/etc <3

Kjuhte was suddenly aware of his body, though he couldn’t move anything, not even a mandible. It felt like there were weights tied to his limbs, keeping them in place no matter how hard he tried to move them. 

All around him was darkness, though he couldn’t be sure if his surroundings were truly pitch black or if he had simply failed to open his eyes. He was just resolving to get to the bottom of this dilemma when he slipped back into unconsciousness. 

He carried on like this, drifting in and out of consciousness for what felt like an eternity. Sometimes he would be in the darkness, other times he would experience visions of the past. One time, he was but a pup, surrounded by his bearer’s comforting scent as she rocked him in her arms. In another, he was back on his  _ chiva _ , facing off against the  _ kiande amedha _ . None of the visions lasted long, and as soon as he could process where he was, he was tumbling back into oblivion. 

No matter how many times his awareness flickered in and out, he couldn’t shake the thread of anxiety that tugged at the back of his mind. He had been doing something, he was sure of it. Something important. He just couldn’t remember  _ what _ .

Another memory was coalescing in his mind, the edges blurry, giving it a dream like quality. Was he dreaming? His mind was too foggy to tell. 

He was with his bearer again, though he was now an adult. They stood in a dense rainforest, the large fan-like plants around him dripping with condensation, the air heavy with moisture. He remembered this trip, it was the first time she had brought him to the  _ ooman _ planet. They had come across a group of  _ oomans _ armed with primitive firearms. His bearer had told him to move closer, so as to observe them more carefully, and needing no more prodding, he leapt down from his perch in the tree, landing on the ground without making a sound. 

Only now, he was not in that rainforest anymore. He was somewhere else, running along the roof of a metal structure as the sound of  _ ooman _ firearms - decidedly less primitive now - rang out behind him, mixing with the shouts that filled the brisk night air. Kjuhte felt the sting of bullets sinking into the flesh of his back, but he ran on, determined to make it into the tree line, the only chance he had to escape this. 

He was just about to make a jump from the roof to a low hanging branch when white hot pain erupted across his side. He lost his footing and plummeted towards the ground. 

Kjuhte sat up with a jolt, his awareness returning as the memories of the past day’s events flooded back into his mind. He had been tasked with retrieving some yautja tech from a secret  _ ooman _ facility, only the _oomans_ had been prepared for him. Caught off guard, he decided to retreat for the time being, only to be critically injured just as he was about to make his escape. 

He had pushed on though, running on nothing more than adrenaline, refusing to succumb to his injuries despite his body’s adamant protests. He kept running until he was sure he had put enough distance between him and the  _ oomans _ that he could afford a rest. There was a cave nearby that he ducked into, a temporary shelter where he could treat his injuries. The ground was uneven and he lost his footing, the strength in his legs failing him. He had lost too much blood. Determined not to die, he dragged himself to the back of the cave, slumping against it as he dug out his medical kit with shaky hands. The last thing he remembered was his vision starting to go spotty just as he removed the syringe of healing serum from the case. 

Had he managed to inject himself before falling unconscious? He must have, otherwise he would have bled out already. 

Blinking a few times to give his brain a moment to turn back on, he scanned his surroundings, finding that he was very much  _ not _ in the cave anymore. 

At the sight of the  _ ooman _ architecture around him, he sprang to his feet, only to double over in pain with a groan, his body decidedly not happy with the sudden movement. He looked down to his torso, only to find that his wounds had been wrapped, somewhat haphazardly, but enough to stop the worst of the bleeding. 

His gaze moved to the floor around him and landed on the form of an  _ ooman _ slumped on the ground nearby. Based on the shape and smell, it was a female. A small one at that. Maybe a juvenile? 

She was laid out in a heap on the floor, arms stretched towards where he had been laying only a few moments ago. After taking in her awkward position, his first thought was that she was dead, but that thought was dispelled when she let out a soft snore and pulled an arm closer so that she could rest her head on it. She was just sleeping, quite deeply by the looks of it. 

Her hands and forearms were covered with dried green blood, and all around her were various items he recognized as medical in nature, including strips of fabric that matched what had been used to dress his wounds. 

It wasn’t hard for Kjuhte to put together all the pieces. This little  _ ooman _ female had saved him. And had apparently tired herself out in the process. He did not know what to think of that, so instead he turned his focus to his surroundings. 

He was in a small  _ ooman _ dwelling by the looks of it, most likely the home of the female at his feet. The space was cramped, made worse by the amount of furniture crammed inside. He would never understand why such small creatures needed so many different pieces of furniture. Yautja were much larger and required far fewer material comforts. 

He took a few steps, starting to explore the space, when his foot collided with something metallic. Looking down, he found his medical kit, sitting open on the floor amongst all of the female’s own medical equipment. All three syringes of healing serum were in place, which was strange considering he could distinctly remember taking one out to heal himself before he passed out. The female must have replaced it, though he didn’t understand why she had not just used it on him. Maybe he would ask her later. He had already decided to stick around at least until she woke, so as to express his thanks. After that… he was less certain. 

Right now though, he pulled out the syringe and injected himself with the healing serum, hissing as the substance burned its way through his veins. Once the fire faded, he could already feel his body repairing itself, wounds slowly stitching themselves back together. 

After a few minutes, he felt well enough to move around without wincing in pain with every movement. It didn’t take long for him to notice more of his equipment scattered amongst everything else on the ground. The shoulder pauldron he had removed to have better access to his injuries was sitting next to his  _ dah'nagara _ , a new weapon of his that he had brought with him in hopes he would have a chance to use it. 

He looked around for his biomask and found it tucked halfway under the sleeping female. She must have removed it when she was treating him. He did not yet want to wake her, so he decided to leave it be for now, instead turning to the  _ ooman’s _ dwelling, intent to explore more. 

The room he was in now seemed to be some sort of common room, with a couch and low table on one side and a taller table with two chairs on the other. Kjuhte did not see the sense in having two tables in one room, but dropped that train of thought to inspect a door. The door was made of thick material and had a heavy lock near the knob. There was also a small hole in the middle of it and Kjuhte had to bend down to look through it. 

There was an empty hallway outside, lined with many doors that looked the same as the one in front of him, all of them marked with metal pieces shaped like  _ ooman _ numbers. Kjuhte knew that some  _ oomans _ lived close together in large complexes, not unlike yautja clanships. They had a specific word for them. What was it again? He knew it started with an ‘ahhh’ sound but couldn’t recall the rest. Maybe the female had the answer for him. 

Still not ready to wake her up, he inspected the rest of the room, pausing to examine the various baubles that decorated every surface. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to what items were displayed, nor how they were displayed, which irritated him somewhat. He was the kind of yautja that spent hours organizing and reorganizing his trophy wall so that it had maximum impact. He did not like when things were out of place. He stopped himself then, remembering his bearer’s advice when dealing with  _ oomans _ . To always remember that they were not yautja and had their own ways and customs that could not be judged using yautja morality. Maybe these objects were well organized, according to the female’s standards. 

He made his way deeper into the dwelling, into another room. Here, there were things he recognized, equipment that  _ oomans _ used to store and prepare their food. There was a unit used to keep food cool and prevent it from spoiling, very similar to what yautja used in both form and function. There were also machines in here that  _ oomans _ used to heat up their food, a practice somewhat foreign to him. Yautja usually ate their food raw, only stopping to cook it for the most lavish of ceremonies and celebrations. _Oomans_ on the other hand, tended not to eat raw food, especially not raw meat. 

He turned around and found another room, though the door was closed. He tried the handle and it swung open easily. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he was immediately struck by the strong and distinct scent of female hormones, much stronger here than the rest of the dwelling. He was no undisciplined youngblood during his first mating season and was able to control his body’s instinctive reaction to female musk, though it did leave him feeling warmer, with a prickling feeling along his scalp. 

He huffed in amusement at himself as he glanced about the room. It was clear that this was where the female slept, with a large sleeping palette in the middle of the room, covered with a heap of plush fabrics and cushions. 

As much as his curiosity was piqued, he was hesitant to explore the female’s private quarters. Females, at least yautja females, usually did not allow males into their private quarters. Kjuhte could count on one hand the number of times he had been in a female’s quarters, all of which had been during the mating season. Some females liked privacy during mating, though usually they would be invited to the male’s room to view his trophy wall. The specific females in question had needed no more convincing from Kjuhte, and since they were relatively young and inexperienced, only on their first or second breeding season, they had preferred the familiarity of their own quarters. He had been more than happy to oblige, the female’s comfort his utmost priority. 

Erring on the side of caution, Kjuhte decided it was best not to examine this room further. He spun on his heel and was about to step back outside when he spotted something that made him do a double take. 

He blinked a few times to make sure his eyes weren’t tricking him, but sure enough there was an entire  _ ooman _ skeleton mounted in one of the corners of the room. He was so surprised at his discovery that he simply stood there, staring at the  _ th'syra’s _ empty eye sockets for a beat. He knew that  _ oomans _ had many hang ups when it came to dead things, especially of their own kind. They did not normally take trophies the same way yautja did. Was this a trophy at all? It was not displayed in a way that suggested so. And he knew  _ ooman _ females were even less likely to hunt and take trophies than their male counterparts. 

Finally collecting himself, he took one more look at the skeleton before stepping out of the room and closing the door. He had finally reached a point where the number of questions he had for the female exceeded his reluctance to wake her up. 

Without further ado, he made his way back to the sleeping female, who had moved to lay on her stomach, one leg stretched out and the other bent at the knee, making the small garment she wore - a skirt, he recalled, the _ooman_ word suddenly coming to him - ride up, exposing the backs of her upper thighs. Kjuhte was struck by just how soft the skin there looked, finding himself wondering what it would feel like to touch it. He had not yet had the chance to see many ooman females up close, and the ones that he had seen were not soft like this. He huffed again, breaking off that train of thought and mentally chastising himself for getting so easily distracted. 

He went to nudge the female awake with his foot before thinking better of it. _Oomans_ could be skittish and he doubted the sight of a yautja standing over her would do anything other than frighten her. So he instead crouched down next to her, lowering himself so that he appeared like less of a threat. 

He slowly reached out and put a hand on the female's shoulder, shaking her as gently as possible. She made an unhappy sound, muffled somewhat by the fact her mouth was pressed into her shoulder. He did it again and this time one of her hands came up to bat his away. 

“‘m tired.” She grumbled at him sleepily before she settled back down. 

Kjuhte couldn’t suppress his trill of laughter at her reaction. He waited another moment, in case she decided to stir, before he reached out again, shaking her a bit more vigorously this time, clicking his mandibles together to get her attention. 

_ That _ did the trick. Kjuhte watched as one eye snapped open, pulling his hand away quickly before she had the chance to do anything. She jerked awake now, rolling up onto one elbow to look at whoever had woken her. 

By the way she stared, her eyes wide and mouth falling open into a little 'o', she had certainly not been expecting to see him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yautja Translations:  
> bearer - mother  
> chiva - ritual xenomorph hunt  
> kiande amedha - xenomorph (lit. 'hard meat')  
> dah'nagara - short sword  
> ******  
> Kjuhte is trying so hard to be understanding of the human perspective, meanwhile Raven is just a messy bitch with a bunch of random stuff in her apartment. 
> 
> Also, the skeleton is less sinister than it seems, though Raven is still a weirdo for having it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a million years to get out. School started for me again so I've been getting used to my new schedule.

Raven blinked in confusion at the creature crouched before her, her mind sluggish from sleep and currently unable to recall any memories from the night before.

Reacting on instinct alone, she pushed herself up off the floor and rolled onto her butt, scooting away from the giant monster with tusks as long as her pinkie finger. Only she forgot about the coffee table behind her and banged her head against the edge. 

“Fuck, ow!” she muttered as she brought up an arm to rub at the back of her head. 

She heard a faint trilling sound come from the creature in front of her, the upper and lower tusks of their mandibles clicking against each other to make the sound. She also noticed how the corners of their deep set eyes crinkled slightly, shoulders shaking as if… as if they were suppressing a  _ laugh _ . 

“Not funny,” she grumbled, shooting them her best stink eye, though the effect was surely lost when her face cracked into a giant yawn. 

As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she looked around at the mess that was her living room, the events of last night slowly coming back to her as she took in the scattered medical supplies littering the floor. The creature -  _ alien _ \- had been near death’s door only a few hours prior, and now they were conscious and strong enough to be squatting for an extended period of time. Raven would have surely blown her knees out by now, and she wasn’t the one with a gash in her side. 

“Are you okay? You should still be laying down!” She blurted, her concern for them overriding everything else. She’d be damned if she went through all that effort for them to bleed out now. 

Then she remembered the medical kit with the shot of what was hopefully some magic healing stuff that the alien had been trying to administer. “The shot… did you find it? You had it in your hand when I found you but I didn’t want to give it to you because I got nervous it could have been poison or something and you were, like trying to kill yourself like spies do with cyanide pills…”

She realized she was rambling, a habit of hers that happened when she was nervous. And boy oh boy was she nervous, though she really didn’t know why. She had gotten over her initial fear, but a vague unease remained. They hadn’t done anything aggressive towards her, hadn’t done anything other than laugh at her expense, but there was something about being at the center of this being’s attention that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. 

It probably had something to do with the intensity of their gaze, with their orange eyes shining with an inhuman glow, almost like the eyes of a lit Jack-o-lantern. 

The alien’s head cocked to the side as her voice trailed off, entranced by their fiery gaze. That is what it took for Raven to remember that this was an  _ alien _ , that there was a huge chance that they didn’t understand a single damn word that had just poured out of her mouth. 

She was about to start sputtering out an apology when she was interrupted by the low rumble of their voice. “My wounds are healing. My thanks for your help, female.” 

Huh. So this must be a male alien. It felt like such a trivial thing to focus on, but it was the first thing her brain latched onto.

As if to prove his point, the alien peeled back one of the corners of the gauze on his side. Raven was about to protest, but saw that the injury had already started to heal considerably, the edges already starting to scab over. 

She must have had a puzzled expression on her face, since he pulled the medkit out from where it was clipped on his belt, opening it up to show her the now empty syringe. 

“Shot,” he tapped the syringe with one sharp, black claw. Raven hadn’t really noticed just how long they were until now. “Help heal faster. Not poison.” He clarified, ending the statement with another sound that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. 

Raven made a face at him before muttering, “Well damn. Knowing that would have saved me a lot of trouble last night. Had to haul your unconscious ass through a forest in a miniskirt.” 

Really, she was talking to herself more than anything, not expecting him to understand her. But he surprised her, pausing for a moment to mull over her words, his brows knitting together in a pensive expression as he quickly translated, barking out a laugh once he understood her meaning. 

“It must have been difficult, for one so small.” He trilled at her… and Raven must have been delirious from lack of sleep because she could  _ swear _ she saw a glimmer of mischief in his orange eyes. 

Raven balked at him, her eyes going wide again, before she managed to ask, “Are- are you  _ teasing _ me?” 

His mandibles pulled up in a mimicry of a smile as he nodded at her. “ _ Sei-i _ ,” he clicked out the alien word before supplying the translation, “Yes.” 

Suddenly struck by just how  _ absurd _ this whole situation was, Raven burst out into a fit of laughter. There was an  _ alien _ in her apartment, one that could speak English no less, and despite the fact he was more than capable of tearing her to shreds, he was here joking around with her. She laughed so hard that a stitch started to form on her already sore abdomen, causing her to double over, groaning in between giggles. 

“Do-n’t make m-me laugh! I’m too sore.” She told him as she got herself under control, sitting up again to face him again. “Think I pulled a muscle or something. You’re heavy as shit, you know that?” 

He started at her for a moment, no doubt translating, before he trilled and nodded at her. Then he abruptly turned away and started rummaging around in his medkit. Raven just sat there, unsure of exactly what to do or say now. She ended up fishing her phone out of her pocket to get a look at the time. The screen told her it was 6:45am, which was  _ way _ too early to be awake, especially on a weekend. That also meant she had only slept for around three hours. She wanted nothing more right now than to throw herself into her bed and sleep for the next two weeks. She was so busy lamenting at the time that she missed when her extraterrestrial guest turned back to her and asked a question. 

“Huh? I missed what you said.” 

“Let me take care of your wounds, female. It is the least I can do to repay you.” He pointed at her bloody knees before motioning her to come closer. 

It was right about that time that she realized that the way her legs had been positioned had made her miniskirt ride up on her thighs, meaning she had basically been flashing him this entire time. With an indignant little squeak, she closed her legs, feeling her face get warm with embarrassment. She scooted towards him on her butt, making sure her skirt didn’t ride back up as she did. 

When she was within arms reach, he repositioned himself so that he was kneeling on one knee, taking the tube he had pulled from his medkit and squeezing out a clear gel-like substance onto his fingers before leaning down to apply it to the gashes on one of her knees. The gel was cold enough to surprise her, jerking her knee away from the feeling on instinct. He caught her calf with his other hand to keep her steady as he continued to apply the gel. He was mindful of his claws, only touching her with the rough pads of his fingers, which made for a surprisingly pleasant sensation. 

Raven’s attention drifted, along with her eyes, and she was suddenly  _ very _ aware of his thighs.  _ His thick, juicy thighs, _ she thought dreamily. They were easily wider than her head and she had no doubt he could crush her head between them with little difficulty. Her eyes then flicked over to the space between his thighs, to the armored loincloth that dangled there, while her mind moved to wondering what was underneath. Was it proportional to the rest of him? Was it anything like a human man’s? Did it -

_ Nope. No. Uh-uh. Bad Raven. _ She scolded herself internally. He’d been conscious for all of five minutes and she was already thinking about his junk. Typical. 

But how could she resist? Yes, there was a feeling of intense curiosity just due to the fact he was an alien. But also he was so tall, with the physique of a Greek god. Plus he smelled good and was warm, the heat radiating off of him making her want to cuddle up to his chest. 

She was still staring when she felt his finger catch under her chin, pressing just hard enough to turn her head to face up towards him. His thumb came up to rub her cheek and it took her a moment to recognize the cool feel of the healing gel on her skin, too flustered by the intimacy of the gesture. She felt her face heat up and was thankful it was still somewhat dark in the room. Maybe he couldn’t see the effect he was having on her. 

She flicked her eyes up to meet his, only to find a slight glimmer of mirth in their fiery depths. Oh, he knew all right. 

He didn’t say a word to her though, instead moving to treat a scratch on her forehead that she received when a tree branch whipped her in the face. 

“Um,” Raven cleared her throat, “my name is Raven by the way. So you don’t have to just call me ‘female’ anymore.” She knew that he didn’t know any better, but being addressed like that made her feel like she was talking to some annoying incel on Reddit. 

“Ray-ven,” he repeated, drawing out the syllables ever so slightly. Honestly it was a good first try. His head cocked and his eyes took on a far off look as he thought about it, before turning back to her and asking, “Like the bird?” 

“Yeah! Did you know a group of ravens is called an unkindness?” she told him, just blurting out the first thought that came to her mind. 

“ _ H’ko _ . No. Did not know this,” he rumbled in response. She sighed in relief when he didn’t act like her out of the blue statement was weird. Then again, everything she did and said was probably weird to him. “Why are they called this? Are they aggressive towards  _ oomans _ ?” 

“No clue. I think a bunch of scientists got bored one day and decided to come up with names for groups of animals. A group of crows is called a murder.” 

He shook his head in a way that Raven took to mean ‘Wow, humans are weird.’ He had finished tending to her various scrapes and bruises and stood back up to his full height in one fluid movement before offering a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet with ease, as if she was made out of paper instead of flesh and bone. Just another thing to add to the list of incredibly attractive things about him. 

Once on her feet, she wobbled a bit, her legs sore from all of the running. She ended up having to grab at his upper arm to keep herself from falling. As soon as she realized what she did, she let out a squeak and took a step back, her cheeks taking on a pink hue once again. 

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she asked her next question, “W-what’s your name? You didn’t tell me yet.” 

“Kjuhte.”

Raven tried to say his name back to him, but stumbled on the strange syllables. She winced and looked back at him sheepishly. “Sorry, I totally butchered that. Might be easier to say if I had mandibles.”

“But I can say your name fine, Raven.” She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was teasing her. 

Already his pronunciation of her name had improved. “Rude,” she huffed at him before punching him playfully in the chest. 

As soon as she did so she regretted it, his body going rigid and eyes snapping to hers. Shit, had she done something wrong? Was that insulting in his culture? Maybe she just did the alien equivalent of flipping him the middle finger. 

His hands clenched as his eyes searched hers, as if trying to figure out her intentions. She was about to apologize when his posture relaxed, evidently landing on an answer that satisfied him. 

Raven was once again at a loss for what to do next, so she just stood there awkwardly fiddling her thumbs. The tension was broken when her stomach let out a loud grumble and Kjuhte chittered out a laugh. 

“Hungry? I know I am. I can make some breakfast for us.” She started moving towards the kitchen, running through a list of what was currently in her refrigerator. She flicked the kitchen light on and glanced down at her arms, still covered in dirt and dried green blood. She was basically a walking biohazard at this point. “Actually, change of plans. I am gonna go clean myself off first. Then I can make breakfast while you take a shower… if you want to, that is.”

Kjuhte looked down at himself, taking stock of his similarly dirty appearance. “Shower sounds like a good idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yautja Translations:  
> Sei-i - Yes  
> H'ko - No  
> ******  
> Let's all be real with ourselves, we'd all be thinking about alien dick if we met a yautja, lmao.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here is the next chapter. I'd like to apologize for this chapter being so horny despite them not doing anything sexual. But what's a good fic without a bit of sexual tension? >:3c

Kjuhte settled down on the couch as Raven disappeared into the room she called the bathroom. He sat quietly, listening to her shuffle about in the small space, his mandibles turning up in a smile as he heard a loud bang and an even louder exclamation from her that he knew to be an  _ ooman _ curse word. 

His initial conversation with her had gone surprisingly well, once she had moved past her initial fear of him. He was honestly quite proud of his ability to understand her difficult alien language. It had not been an easy task to learn, with so many extra words to describe the same thing. It had been even harder to learn to speak it well, the sounds foreign to his vocal chords. His bearer had been fluent in three  _ ooman _ languages - _Paya_ knows why they needed to have so many - and he had practiced conversing with her, but that was very different from talking with a native speaker and he had not had a chance to truly test his abilities until now. Her speech was much quicker than he was used to and filled with slang that he was unfamiliar with, but he had navigated through those challenges well enough that she had been able to understand him. 

Their conversation had been interesting, new questions popping up in his mind with every reply she gave. He had especially liked when she told him about the names for different groups of birds. It was a strange fact that, while useless to him by itself, still shed light on the complex  _ ooman _ thought process. From her statement he had gleaned that  _ oomans _ viewed the animals in a negative light, which he would guess might have to do with their tendency to eat carrion, since _ oomans _ tended to have many hang-ups with regards to dead bodies. It was not something he would have been able to learn otherwise. The beliefs and traditions had always been the hardest aspect of the species to study, as it was difficult to know if an interpretation was right if one was unable to interact with them. 

He was lost in this train of thought as a strange buzzing sound came from the room Raven was in. It almost sounded like the laser he used to clean his armor and weapons, but louder and higher pitched. His curiosity was piqued, but he knew better than to walk into the room. She had shut the door for a reason and he would respect that. 

Luckily for him, the door opened suddenly and Raven crossed the hallway to her bedroom, rummaging around until she came back out with a bundle of fabric under one arm. 

She noticed him watching her and he was momentarily worried that she did not appreciate his continued attention until she stopped walking and offered an explanation. “I forgot a change of clothes. Normally I just change in my room, but it’s usually considered rude to run around naked with company over,” she finished with a laugh. 

Ah yes,  _ oomans _ and their hang ups around nudity, another thing he would never truly understand. He remembered when Raven had been embarrassed when she realized he could see the cloth that covered her genitals. Part of him had wanted to reassure her that he did not care, but he did not know if that would have made her more embarrassed, so he decided to ignore it completely. 

Raven turned to head back into the bathroom, and Kjuhte could not stop the surprised sound that came from his throat when he saw that half of the fur - no, it was called hair - on her head had been cut short. 

She paused at the sound and gave him a confused look for a beat before realizing what had startled him. “Oh, my hair. I was shaving it when I remembered about the clothes and decided to go get them before I forgot.”

“Shaving? What is this?” Kjuhte was not familiar with the word. 

“Come on, I’ll just show you. It’ll be easier than explaining.” She beckoned him to follow her and immediately started marching back to the bathroom. Apparently this was not up for debate, not that he would have passed up the opportunity to observe her grooming routine anyway. 

Kjuhte joined her in the bathroom, waiting beside her patiently as she put her clothes down and picked up a small device that was resting on the edge of the sink. 

She spun around and held the device up for him to inspect. “This is a razor. An  _ electric _ razor. There are non-electric razors too but that is beside the point.” She pointed to one end that had many small blades attached, “The main benefit of it is that you can adjust the settings for whatever length you want your hair. You can shave it all off or just give it a little trim.” 

She flipped through the settings so that he could see how the blades adjusted before bringing it up to her head. The buzzing sound he had heard before started up again and he watched with rapt attention as she passed it over a section of her head. The pieces of hair that had once come down to the middle of her neck fluttered to the ground, leaving short tufts in their wake. 

“Why do you do this? Does it hurt?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. 

“Hurt? Why would it hurt?” 

“There are not....” he paused for a moment, waving his hand in the air as he searched for the right words, “nerve endings?” 

“Nah, hair is just dead skin cells. I can feel it when someone tugs on it ‘cuz it’s attached to my scalp but otherwise nothing. Why, would it hurt if someone cut your... hair?” Her voice pitched up on the last word, clearly wondering if that was the right word to use at all. 

“Tresses,” He supplied, flicking his head so that some of them fell over his shoulder for better viewing, “ _ Sei- _ i, yes, it would hurt if they were cut. And they would bleed.” At that her mouth formed a little ‘o’, accompanied by a breathy sound that Kjuhte found charming. “It is not anything that I could not handle,” he couldn’t help but add, puffing up his chest and straightening his back. He did not want her to think he was some weakling. 

She broke out into a fit of giggles that she tried smothering behind a hand. “Oh, I’m sure, big guy. Now here,” she grabbed his wrist and brought his hand up before shoving the razor into his hand, “you can do the rest.” 

Kjuhte started down at the device, which was clearly made to fit an  _ ooman’s _ hand and not a yautja’s. “You are sure?” 

“Yeah, why not? Who else can say they got a haircut from an alien?! Besides, if it looks bad, I can fix it up. And if I can’t, it grows back anyway. So go crazy.” 

There was no way he could say no to a demand from such a confident female, yautja or not. So he took the razor and turned it on, inspecting it closely before bringing it to her head. His first pass through her hair was slow and tentative, but as his confidence built as he continued.

Every so often he would use his other hand to brush away some of the cut strands that refused to fall. He distinctly noticed that her hair was much softer than the _ooman_ hair he had felt before, the newly short sections especially ticklish under his palm. He wondered if this was something that was unique to her or possibly to females in general. He could not think of a time he had ever touched a female  _ ooman’s _ hair before, seeing as all of his _ooman_ trophies were from males. None of their hair had been this soft, though he would admit he had not been paying attention to that at the time, much more interested in the  _ th'syra _ underneath. 

Briefly, he wondered if touching another’s hair had the same connotations to _ oomans _ as it did yautja. Usually, a tug on someone’s tresses was used to indicate one’s interest, and many yautja - himself included - found it arousing to have their tresses stimulated while mating. But his knowledge on _ooman_ mating customs was woefully lacking, so he could not speak to Raven’s intentions. 

Glancing at her face, he saw she had closed her eyes, a lazy smile turning her lips up at the corners. From her demeanor he could at least say that she was not feeling any displeasure as he cut her hair. 

When all of her hair had been cut to the same length, he turned the razor off and passed his fingers through her hair one last time, the tips of his claws scratching gently across her scalp. She leaned back into his touch and hummed contentedly. He responded with a purr of his own, a low sound that originated deep in his chest. In the back of his mind he registered the scent of something sweet in the air but quickly brushed it aside. There were many strange smells in this room. 

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him through the mirror that hung above the sink. “Done?” 

He nodded and handed the razor back to her, watching as she turned her head from side to side, inspecting his work in the mirror. She turned the razor back on to fix a few spots she deemed inadequate, before finishing and turning back to him. 

“You did pretty darn good for your first try, big guy.” She praised, and he preened internally at her nickname, knowing she was not simply referring to his height but also his build as well. 

“I am glad my work is... satisfactory,” he responded, earning him a chuckle. She ducked down to fish something out of the cabinet under the sink, coming up with another device he did not recognize. She turned it on and passed it over the loose hair that had fallen to the ground and the device sucked it up easily. 

As if reading his mind, as soon as she finished she told him, “Vacuum,” before holding it up for his inspection. He gave it a good once over before he nodded and she returned it to its place in the cabinet. 

“Well, thanks for the help,” she offered him with a smile. He picked up that she was signaling for him to leave and was about to do so when she continued, “Wait, let me show you how the shower works while you’re in here.” 

He nodded and turned to watch as she pulled a plastic sheet aside to reveal a small basin set into one of the walls, with racks of various bottles and miscellaneous objects lining it. So this was a shower, he thought to himself as she busied explaining to him how to turn the water on and adjust the temperature. It was simple enough to follow, the technology behind it much simpler than the yautjas’ advanced bathing chambers. It would be easy enough to dismiss the  _ ooman _ technology with a huff, but Kjuhte knew better. Though it may seem primitive, that was simply because  _ ooman’s _ had just recently experienced their technological revolution. Of course they would not be as advanced as the yautja, who had had centuries upon centuries to develop their tech. The  _ oomans _ were just another sentient species in a different stage of civilization, no more no less. There was no reason to see them as inferior in his opinion, though he would admit that his beliefs were not shared by the vast majority of others. 

He tuned back into the fascinating little  _ ooman _ in front of him, who was just finishing up her explanation. “Oh, and you can use whatever you want in here. I don’t think you’ll need shampoo or conditioner since you don’t have hair exactly, but you can use some body wash if you’d like.” She held up a bottle of sweet smelling liquid to him and he thanked her. 

“Now, as much fun as this has been, I’m gonna have to ask you to step out so I can actually shower. Unless…” She left the rest of her statement unspoken, and he assumed she had simply changed her mind about what she was going to say. 

He gave her an affirmative sound and spun on his heel to give her the privacy she requested. Just as she closed the door behind him, he picked up that same sweet smell in the air, stronger than before. It wasn’t until he had settled himself back down on the couch that he recognized the smell as her arousal, much different than a female yautja’s but still pleasant, albeit in a different way. That was also when he realized the intent behind her unspoken sentence, that she was suggesting that he join her in the shower. 

Then his thoughts turned to their earlier interaction when he had treated her wounds. He had seen her inspecting him close up, her gaze focusing on his thighs and groin. He had been able to see her body heat up and the smell that he now knew to be her arousal had filled his senses. She had gotten even warmer when he had caught her looking. Then, he had simply found the interaction amusing. He felt no shame or embarrassment as she looked over his body, it was natural to be curious about these things, even for  _ oomans _ with all their weird hang ups regarding sex and nudity. He had chalked up her flustered reaction to that, simply being caught doing something deemed morally wrong by her culture. But now he was second guessing that judgement. 

It was clear to him now that Raven was attracted to him in some way, though he could not say to what extent it went nor could he guess at her intentions. Though what mattered more right now was what he intended to do about this. If he was being honest with himself, he was more flattered than anything. No matter the species, gaining the attention and interest of a female was something to be proud of. Some would surely have been disgusted at the mere thought of mating with another species, but he tended to be open minded about these sorts of things. Plus, it was not exactly unheard of for a yautja to mate with an  _ ooman _ . It wasn’t common by any means, but he’d heard stories of certain yautja being particularly impressed by an _ooman_ warrior and bedding them. In some very rare instances they had even taken that  _ ooman _ as a companion or even as a mate. It seemed to be a much more common occurrence among those who studied  _ oomans _ and other sentient species. 

Once, after more than a few drinks, his bearer had even confessed to him that she had come across a group of female warriors that had helped her contain a  _ kiande amedha _ outbreak. They had fought valiantly and his bearer had made her regard for them clear. After the battle, the females had invited her to join them as they all pleasured each other. His bearer refused to give any more details, but her tone had clearly indicated that it had been an enjoyable experience. 

Nonetheless, regarding his current situation, there was not much to be done about it at the moment. Deciding to return to the topic at a later time, he decided the best use of his time right now would be to enter a few notes about what he had learned into the database in his wrist gauntlet. Though his memory was far above that of the average yautja, he did not want to take a chance and end up forgetting. 

He went to go type on his wrist gauntlet, only to find it wouldn’t turn on. He growled in frustration and turned his wrist so he could inspect the underside. Much to his displeasure, he found that much of the wiring on the underside was damaged, most likely in the same blast that tore a hole in his side. 

_ Pauk.  _

This was not good at all. Without his wrist gauntlet he would not be able to call his ship, which, incidentally, had all the tools he would need to repair it. 

Double  _ pauk _ . 

With a sigh, he sat back on the couch, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling of the little apartment. Then, he immediately sat back up, remembering his biomask. There was a chance he would be able to use that to call his ship. He unclasped it from his belt and set it on his face. 

After a brief inspection, he found that it was still functioning, which was a relief. He could still filter through the different vision modes and the basic life support systems were still working. But many of its other functions, like accessing the database and - yes - calling his ship, were down since they required connection to the computer in his wrist gauntlet. 

He would just have to figure something else out. He was not the most technologically savvy, but he had enough knowledge to fix the damage to his wrist gauntlet. Probably. It would be highly dependent on if he was able to find the right materials to do so. Luckily, he found himself in the home of an  _ ooman _ that was very knowledgeable and clearly willing to provide assistance. Thank  _ Paya _ for that. 

As he waited, he ran maybe a million different plans to go about fixing his wrist gauntlet. Eventually, he just decided he would need to have a conversation with Raven before he could move forward with any one of them. 

Soon enough, the door to the bathroom swung open and Raven walked out, followed by a cloud to steam, her short black hair still damp. She gave him a jovial smile when she spotted him on the couch and wasted no time informing him, “Okay, so I came up with maybe a million questions I want to ask you while I was in there, so get ready to give me some answers when you come out. We can both ask each other stuff while we eat.” 

Before he could reply she darted into her room, coming back with a large piece of fabric that she shoved into his hands. “Here’s your towel.” He must have been giving her a confused look because she added, “For you to dry yourself off with.” 

“My thanks.” He murmured as he watched her flit towards the kitchen excitedly. 

Right as she was about to disappear in the doorway, she turned back to him and asked, “Oh, do you have any dietary restrictions? Anything you can’t eat? Or you like to eat?” 

“I would prefer meat. Though I can eat much of your  _ ooman _ food.” 

“Well that makes sense, I hardly took you for an herbivore.” She responded cheekily before disappearing into the kitchen, making him chuckle. She was certainly the most spirited  _ ooman _ he had ever met. 

He made his way into the bathroom and paused a moment to enjoy the warm, steamy air. He stripped himself of his armor, laying it out nicely next to the sink and making a note to clean it after. Then he peeled off the remains of his shredded thermal netting. Most of the arm and torso areas were in tatters, but he supposed he could still wear the leg portions if he got too cold. For now, though he would simply go without it. 

He turned the knobs like Raven had shown him and soon a steady stream of hot water was falling from the metal attachment on the wall. He stepped into the basin and quickly found that he was much too tall for the shower, his head peeking out over the top of the curtain that hung in front of it. He had to bend down to clean his head and neck, but he wasn’t complaining. The hot water felt nice on his sore body, and he could feel as the tension slowly left him as he relaxed under the spray. He quickly set about scrubbing away the dried blood and dirt that caked his body, watching as the green tinted water swirled around his feet before disappearing down the drain. 

He peered towards the many bottles that lined the walls and located the bottle Raven had shown him earlier. He picked it up and inspected it more closely. The bottle had a picture of a plant he did not recognize on it and many tiny _ooman_ words on the back that he didn’t bother trying to decipher. He took one last sniff of it before shrugging and pouring some out into his hand, watching as it turned foamy as he rubbed it against his hide. 

He had to admit it was quite pleasant. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yautja Translations:  
> Paya - yautja goddess of the hunt  
> Sei-i - yes  
> th'syra - skull/trophy  
> kiande amedha - xenomorph (lit. 'hard meat')  
> Pauk - fuck  
> *****  
> Is Kjuhte a big old nerd? Yes. Do I still love him with all my heart? Also yes.  
> Though I've sort of alluded to why he knows so much about humans, it'll definitely be discussed in later chapters, don't worry. 
> 
> Also, I would love to be one of those sexy warrior women that got to have an orgy with other warrior women AND a giant buff alien lady... anyone else with me? 😳


End file.
